TAHITI: THE PLAYGROUND OE NATURE 



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MAP SHOWING THE POSITION OF TAHITI IN THE MID-PACIFIC 



The completion of the Panama Canal effected a saving of 10.000 miles in the sailing distance 



between New York and Tahiti. 



color, ran a fringe of algaroba trees. 

 Back of them were sequestered avenues 

 of "flamboyant,'' tamarind, mango, and 

 breadfruit. From these rose an occa- 

 sional red tile roof, church spires, white 

 flagstaffs, and tall coconut palms. 



Sloping gradually from the town, ever- 

 green hills, scarred here and there by 

 barren red and gray clay, extended miles 

 inland, where they overlooked the Fautaua 

 and Punaruu valleys. They were broken 

 into almost innumerable canyons and 

 gullies all over their surface. 



FEMININE CHARM IN TAHITI 



As the steamer drew near the shore 

 many small craft — the picturesque out- 

 rigger canoe, the broad-beamed fruit- 

 boat, and the noisy gasoline schooner — ■ 

 lay at anchor or moved about the lake- 

 like harbor. 



At the copra-scented dock toward which 

 we moved, hundreds of Tahitians and 

 scattered pairs and groups of Americans 



and Europeans were on hand to meet us. 

 It was a variegated throng. There were 

 as many colors and shades of complexion 

 as there were of dress, and some of the 

 feminine possessors were beautifully pro- 

 portioned and moved with queenly grace. 

 Their dark hair, crowned in some cases 

 with a wreath of the tiare. the flower of 

 love and friendship, hung low on their 

 backs. Their brilliant dark eyes sparkled 

 with good will and merry resolution. 



With orbs like these searching his own. 

 no wonder Bougainville was moved to 

 say of the daughters of Otaheite. "The 

 boats were now crowded with women, 

 whose beauty of face was equal to that 

 of the ladies of Europe, and the symmetry 

 of their forms much superior." 



The native men at the dock were not so x 

 picturesque, collectively, as their brothers 

 whom I afterward saw in the country. 

 The dress of the majority was exceed- 

 ingly prosaic. The average one among 

 them believed himself to be sufficiently 



